Pacific Union
Union Executive Committee Takes Care of Business
T
he Pacific Union Executive Committee met Thursday, March 17, and opened with a devotional message from Berit von Pohle, director of education, in which the committee considered some of the important questions posed by Jesus to his disciples — and their relevance to our mission and ministry. Dr. von Pohle then led the committee in a season of prayer, after which the committee turned to the agenda of reports and new business.
Rascon, all from the Southeastern California Conference, were approved for the Andrews MAP MIN program, and Rochelle Webster, also from Southeastern California, was approved for the La Sierra MTS program. Four candidates received emeritus ministerial credentials: Charles White, Arizona Conference; Duane H. Anderson, Southeastern California Conference; and Eliseo Briseno and Shirley Ponder, Southeastern California Conference. The recommendation from the Southern New Members California Conference to approve the annulment The first item of business was a vote to add of the ordination of Sung Min Lee was also two new members to the Executive Committee: affirmed. In light of his resignation from the Bob Moskiman to replace Shannon Skelton from Nevada-Utah Conference, Charlie Whitehorse the Nevada-Utah Conference and Robin Park to was released from the assignment of Native replace Dean Horinouchi from the Southeastern American Ministries coordinator for the Pacific California Conference. Union.
Credentials and Studies
An early and important item of business concerned the granting of credentials, licenses, and participation in academic programs. The committee approved two ministers for ordination: Lee Junseok and William Sellers, both from the Southern California Conference. Lauren Armstrong received an affirmative vote as a communication intern for the Southern California Conference, and Christiana Parris was promoted from senior accountant to assistant treasurer of the Pacific Union. Ministerial credentials were approved for Reim Vetne and Stephane Beaulieu from Pacific Union College and for Tony Anobile, Virgil Childs and Ray Tetz from Pacific Union. A ministerial license was voted for Andrew B. Dormus from La Sierra University, and a missionary credential was voted for Dana Pottle, Western Adventist Foundation. The committee voted that five individuals could being working on Doctor of Ministry degrees: Carlos Garcia and Jerry Nelson from the Central California Conference; Rudolph Peters from the Northern California Conference; and Vinh Nguyen and John Strehle from the Southern California Conference. In addition, Elina Camarena, Miguel Mendez and Pedro
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Evangelism Endowment
Financial Report
Ted Benson, treasurer, presented the financial report. Benson noted with gratitude, “God is at work in the Pacific Union, and we can see his blessing in the fact that our Creative Evangelism budget for 2015 was about $600,000 and yet we were able to fund over $1.2 million for evangelism projects without impacting other programs.”
The committee then acted on recommendations from the Evangelism Endowment Committee for eight distinctive and innovative outreach projects: Community of Refuge, $15,000; THRIVE Las Vegas, $35,000; UC Berkeley Campus Outreach, $20,800; Bridges Initiative 2016, $65,000; House of Hope in Santa Ana, $15,000; Vice President Tony Anobile OC Lighthouse Revival, $15,000; the WHOLE Conference, $12,000; and an initiative on Reports Adventist Fundamental Beliefs in the Muslim During the course of the meeting, the Context, $12,000. committee received and accepted a number of summary reports, including those from the president, executive secretary, vice president, treasurer, La Sierra University, Church Support Services, education and Hispanic Ministries. In other business, Capital Reversion Fund requests were approved for Regional Ministries, Asian/ Pacific Ministries and Hispanic Ministries, and the delegates for the La Sierra University constituency session were approved. Three subcommittees presented reports and generated passionate and animated discussion. Tony Anobile, vice president, reported on the work of the Evangelism and Retention Committee saying, “One of the most important things that we learned in our discussion is that we Treasurer Ted Benson need to be willing to allow for new and creative